Rebuild Repower
 

Well it's about that time. My family is has been extremely lucky to get the last two seasons out of the boat with out much needing to be done. This season ended a few weeks ago when I F^#@ed up. The 86 seadrive was overheating, and I couldn't find the problem. After doing everything I could think of, I pulled the head covers to look at the cooling channels. Well two of the piston sleeves had small cracks at the very ends. Ok well I knew the engine was on its last life, but I killed it when I broke a bolt off in the cooling head cover. I tried to drill it out and some how punched a hold though the the head cover. :head::nut: Yeah I messed up hard.

So I'm going to start the rebuild next week.
I have a flotation stainless steel marine 30 in setback bracket I'll pick up in Dec. The transom is mush so I will start with that. Putting in an order at US composites for 5 gallons Vinyl ester, 25 yards of 1708, 1708 tape, and micro balloons.
The engine is where I still have a lot to decide. There are three main options I'm looking at. a newer used optixmax, a new mercury 4 stroke, or a new Suzuki df175. All are 500-550 dry weight so it really just depends on what i can get.

you guys have any thoughts before!

pic to follow.

forgot to put if anyone wants the old seadrive it's up for grabs. You pick it up and it all yours.

ST, you might want to reach out to pipe dream. He just put a new Suzuki df175 on his v20 I'm sure he would have a lot of input about how well it worked out for him.

Armchair all the way, but out of those three options I would go for the Suzuki.

I am assuming that you are going to put a bracket on your boat, there have been several people who did that over the years here on the site, as I remember, the most important thing to consider for the new motor is weight...the lighter the better.

I am a Suzuki 4 stroke fan as well, the 140 I had on my V worked very well, it was 410#s dry.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Well I have a few hours today so I decided to try and get the engine off.
The wiring was more of a pain in the *** then the engine. Here are a few pics!

Are u talking merc 150 or new 175 V6. The 150 is around 475lbs. I d get the one with the best dealer presence in your area.

Always been a big fan of the sea drive conversions.

Keep posting progress reports

Interesting removal. Never seen a cherry picker (engine hoist) quite like that one before with the triangular feet setup. I like the idea of the center post allowing you to swing the load like a davit crane. How sturdy is that? :head:

D, i think it fits in the reciever on the truck, not just the tripod under the mast.

just keep in mind, loose Yamaha engines are hard to come by right now(especially over 200 hp), Ive been a big fan of the big 4 cylinder Yamaha, but the newer versions(175, 200hp) have a few issues that are now showing up. The new merc v6 engines are the way to go. A local Scout dealer has been ordering the Merc on some of their boats and compared to Yamaha's on the same model, they run circles around them. The new V6 are almost as light as the 150 4 cylinder from the info I've seen. The down side is there aren't that many of those motors out there right now, and they are commanding a premium(plus a 35% price increase over last years models). I'm not sure if they take mechanical controls or not, but figure in $3000+ for rigging if they are fly by wire. The Suzuki is probably the best bag for the buck, they are heavy though compared to teh compititon. They have a reputation for corrosion issues, but quite honestly, I see just as much corrosion on Yamaha and Merc engines. The difference is how Suzuki handles their warranty, they really let customers down. Regardless of how you go, its still going to cost a bunch of money

Yeah it has two feet on the ground and a bar that connects to the trailer hitch of the truck. It wasn’t bad, it was close to maxing out the weight at that distance. When I install the new engine I’ll get a real hoist so I have more control.

Yeah the engine is going to suck. I’ve been looking and calling tons of places. The used market right now is hard for me. There are no newer used one around here, and if I drive to the coast to pick on up who knows if I can get someone to look at it. The sales are just too rushed, and you may have to walk away after 13 plus hour drive. I know the Suzuki’s are on the heavy side but it saves a few buck, I did get a quote from a mercury dealer for a new 4stroke 175 v4 for 13000. From what I have found Suzuki’s are about 11500 all with out controls. So who knows

Local merc dealer was telling me the other day, v6 s are 3-5 months out. I do think they will take mechanical controls.

Guy down the street just replaced a 06 140 Suzuki with a new 115 Suzuki and loves it. Says he can t tell a lot of difference. The bottom of the block rotted out on his old one.

Hey guys,

I got a line on a brand new 2014/15 Suzuki DF175 Full warranty.


never mind they just called me back and the sales guy messed up. It was a demo engine and not sell-able.

thanks

Got the cap cut off the stern. Was not as hard at I would have thought.

I cut forward a little to get access to the last bulk head and transom knees.
I cut where the rod box was so hopefully it will reduce the fairing when it goes back together.

Going to start cutting the knees and last bulkhead out tomorrow if I have time.

The cap

Way to go. Keep up the great work and the pics. :clap::beer::clap::beer::clap:

F@#*
 

So took some time to finish derigging everything and of course the boat gods pissed on my plans. I thought the stringers where going to be ok, well it looks like they are soaked.

I know the answer, but want your guys advice.

1. Keep cutting back until I find dry wood and then replace?
2. Say F it and cut out the floor and replace everything.
3. Cut back to the second bulkhead and just go with what is there?

Number 2 is what I’m thinking. Then replace the tank and everything.

Wish I had an answer to give you, but it really comes down to what you can afford financially, time wise, and emotional attachment. I've blown a bunch on mine and you will never get the money out of it no matter how great she looks. To everybody else she's just an old 80's Wellcraft, a dime a dozen, free on craigslist. If I were to do it again I would put her back right, but not spend as much as I did on cosmetics.

This is the second V I have worked on like this, and I can’t believe what passed As quality. The stringers where open in 4 or 5 places, the bulkhead tops where just cut off & left exposed, and all the drain holes drilled where unsealed. I can’t believe the boat is as good a shape as it is!!
I’m really HOPEFUL about the fuel tank. The foam is dry and the top looks in great shape. I’ll pull it and really inspect it since I’ve come this far. What are poeples options on the coal tar epoxy?

More pics

Plugging along, got the transom skin and knees out. the plywood is soaked but man it doesn’t want to come out!! Going to chip away at it for now.

One question the 81CC I rebuilt had foam throughout, this one doesn’t. did wellcraft change that in some years.

No foam in my '85.

My 84 had foam everywhere.

As does my '83.

Got everything cut out. The stringers were soaked up to the bulkhead before the cuddy. I lucked out I’m not going to have to take the cap off. I sealed the dry stringers with Peanut butter and will build off them.

So next up the grinding!!! Yeah can’t wait :cen:. I’m going to wait until is cools a little more then get to it.

Wow! :clap:

wierd...my 84 only had foam in fuel tank area.

Wow it’s been a long time
 

So hey guys it’s been a few few months and ALOT has happened since I last posted. Well just not that much to the boat. I was informed as I was dismantling the boat that our basement was getting finished this winter... by me. We also were putting in a 60 by 20 garden. Only problem with that is we live on the side of a valley so we have NO level ground, 120 tons of fill/topsoil later, fencing, tilling, etc I finished that. The basement was next.... so 6 months later I can restart on the boat. Well during that time a mouse condo started in the boat :cen::sick:. They ate EVERYTHING!! All the new wiring, the entire cuddy was destroyed, and the largest nest I have ever seen was in the cuddy floor.

After seeing the destruction I had to come up with a new plan. I was perry down and didn’t document much until now. So the new plan.

1. Cap had to come off to get to the mouse condo in the cuddy floor
2. Since I was there the strings under the cuddy might as well come out and replaced.
3. Rip out all the wiring (all new as of two years ago)
4. The bracket I was getting got sold under my nose to another guy, so I am going in deep and doing my own.

So as of today I’m ready to start rebuilding.

More pics
So to explain the photos a bit.

I had some older light poles I used as a make shift crane. Didn’t take any photos but lifted the cap off. Not that bad.

Put it in the garage and blocked it up really good. I have 5 keel contact points and 4 on each side of the keel. Started cutting and grinding, man I hate that. Got everything smoothed out and ready for new glass.

I decided to use wood as I can got it out here easily, all the composites plus shipping was so expensive I couldn’t do it. Made the new transom will do two layer for 3/4 marine ply tabbed in with 6in then 12in 1708 tape and then two full covering sheets.

Testing fitting the transom wood I found I couldn’t get the curve correct. The wood was stronger then the glass. Everything I tried bent the existing transom glass to the wood and distorted the transom. after trying 4 or 5 different ways I ended up settling on drilling 13 holes through the boat and wood with a full sheet of the 3/4 in plywood backer plate on the outside of the transom. I then took some 1/2 threaded rod and made my own bolts that had continuous threads. I’ll have to do the two layer of wood separately so I can bend the wood to the transom and not distort the glass. What a pain in the a$$ but I will match the curve. Going to get the first layer on tomorrow morning. Will bed with thicker resin and glass dust. Feels sooo good to start putting things back IN and not ripping them apart!!!

Looking good. I plan to pull the cap on my '87 Center Console in the next several weeks to replace the stringers. Watching your thread for inspiration! - Greg

Nice job ST. Looks like you ve got a great place to work in, that s a big part of it. Keep the pics flowing

Thanks Greg, the hardest part of pulling the cap for me was getting the balance point right. Took a block and tackle, and three come-alongs.

I do most of the work myself, do I was able to con my pops over tonight to get the first transom core board in. Didn’t take that long at all.

Coated both the hull and the plywood with regular catalyzed resin, let the tack up. Took about 15 mins then mixed up a lot of thickened resin spread it out with a 1/4 inch trowel and bolted it to on. We got a really good amount squeeze out the sides so I’m sure there are no air pockets. Used what squeezed out to fill the gap around the ply and the hull.

We are going to let it sit over night then repeat tomorrow. I’ll let it cure for 3-4 days after and start on the stringers.

Everything actually went to plan this morning:sun:. The bolts where harder to get out then I thought so that was a pain but not a problem. Interesting the PB squished out to the bolt holes like I planed, the interesting thing was the mixture was so hard that it threaded the holes. I couldn’t break them out I had to unscrewed them. That made me feel real good about the bond and PB mixture I used.

The next layer was just a repeat from the first. I had two options
1. PB and same bolts
2. Layer of 1708 instead of the PB.

Others know way better them me about the pros and cons of both, but I decided that first one came out so well I was going to repeat the exact same process.

I think I will add a third layer of tabbing when I glass the transom in. So I’ll do 6in, 10in,12in, two full sheets of 1708. All hot coated to make sure I get a chemical bond on all the tabbing.

I’m going to give it a few days to cure then mix up more PB to fill the gaps and add a better radius to the wood hull joint. I’m going to try the PB in a plastic bag with the corner cut off, masonry style and see how that works.

Keep it up!

Hey Twisted I was wondering - it looks like you've only got the hull supported on your caddies with the stringers out. Do you have any other reinforcing in place to prevent the hull from deforming?

Yeah I have the keel blocked in 5 different spots, and then 4 on each side (on the flat steps).

I leveled the stringers then blocked everything I could. Since I was walking, cutting, grinding, etc I didn’t want anything to move.

nice work:clap:

Interesting the different models of V20s. Yours had a full transom and it was flat all the way across. My 84 cuddy had a motor well and the transom angled from the sides. it was actually 3 pieces of plywood.

I was concerned when I first saw your post that you didn't consider that but I can see in the pix its OK. If I used a flat transom on mine the cap and motor well would not have fit when they went back on.

Thanks Skunk,

Oh mine is curved by a lot. It was original with a seadrive and has a small flat spot in the center. The only way I could match the curve was using the plywood on the outside and drew the inside plywood one at a time. When I bolted them in I used metal flat bars vertically.

The photo attached is looking down in the middle of the transom.

Did a lot of small little things to get ready for this morning.
Fillets, corner radius, cutting the glass, etc all that.

It was perfect weather this morning 70 low humidity.

Tabbed in the transom core, three layers of 1708, 6in, 10in, 16in.
Sealed the core with a coat for resin, let it kick, then started the tabs. I let each layer kick before starting the next but all were wet on wet. Put one full sheet over the whole core and wrapped is around onto the transom skin. I took wax paper and clamped the top so it would “glue” to each side. Once that had kicked and a little extra I pulled the wax paper off. Not the results I wanted few air pockets and not great adherence.:head:
Instead of trying to just make it work I painted PVA over the whole transom/tabs, and let it dry. I’ll grind it down and add two more full layers when I do the stringers. The picture looks green because of the PVA.